Category — Low Calorie Recipes

I know that it was not very nice of me to leave you all hanging on Saturday. No recipe, no explanation, no nothin’. Well. Here it is. The fact is; I was sad last week. *sigh* You know what I mean? The kind of sad where you just hear a stupid gooey song on the radio and WHAM! you’re crying. No reason, really. Just s-a-d. Well, that was Angie Pangie last week.  Usually I’m not very “girl-like”, being that I don’t typically cry about much of anything, so it was totally annoying to me.

And when I get annoyed, I often get mean. And spiteful. And I think dumb things like “I don’t like blogging anyhow, who cares if I post? Certainly not me.” Even more than dumb, that’s just untrue. And, no matter what I say, and even though I wasn’t in the mood to blog about broccoli, I still like to blog. I just didn’t have it in me last week to blog, that’s all.

My friend Holli tried to cheer me up by taking me out for a romp at the kitchen store. We walked around and goofed off and made fun of people for paying $17 for a bowl to hold garbage. Because that is just not right people.  I love my friend Holli, and I had a great time, but when I got home . . . I was still sad.

So, I didn’t post.  But, as it turns out, I’ve got the greatest hubby in the whole wide world.  He always picks up the pieces for me and prods me to muddle through the best I can when I’m feeling sad, or mean, or just not much like myself. And when all else fails, he buys me stuff to make me happy, which nearly always works. At the end of last week he bought me a car. A great big giant red car. And, honestly? I’m feeling much better now. Funny how that works, huh?

So, now that I’m feeling better and I’m hauling the produce for the Saturday Sides in a bright red shiny car I’m here to make it up to you that I was a super schmuck non-poster last weekend. Oh, and don’t ever, ever doubt that I’m an only child, o.k.? I like presents. Now that I’m older, I just like bigger, more expensive presents.

So I picked a Saturday Side (yes, I know it’s not Saturday now) that was so completely easy to make, yet astoundingly delicious, that I bet you’ll be having it two or three times a month after you try it. Hey, don’t doubt me . . . just trust me.

Citrus Broccoli
Adapted from Everyday Food

1 1/2 pounds of trimmed broccoli florets
1/2 fresh lime
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

You’ll need a steamer basket to make this broccoli.  These only cost a couple of dollars at the discount stores and are well worth the price for the tasty steamed veggies they turn out.

Place one inch of water in a large saucepan and place your steamer basket inside. 

Bring the water to a full boil, add the broccoli and cover.

Steam until tender, but not mushy - about 7 minutes.  Do not allow your broccoli to cook until it looks washed-out” or very pale.  It should be vibrant and very green.  You don’t want it to be undercooked either, so watch it closely.  You can use the sharp end of a knife to see how “soft” the broccoli has gotten.

Place broccoli in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  And for heaven’s sake, don’t skip this step!  You can cut back, if you must, on the salt, but don’t omit it.  Remember, salt is a flavor enhancer - it gives a much needed boost to the natural flavor of broccoli.  Well, if you do skip this step (and even though I said don’t, I know some of you will because you think salt is unhealthy, which is only true if you use way too much) don’t come whining to me about how this broccoli tastes yucky, and bland, and boring.  Add salt.  Problem solved.

Squeeze the lime juice over the broccoli and add some of the lime pulp, if desired.  I like to use a fork to get in there and break apart the pulp and really get the juice out.  Now.  A certain someone whose name I will not mention (Angie Pangie) thought that if half a lime was good with broccoli that a whole lime with broccoli would be better.

This is how that turned out.

Holli says “Stick to half a lime.”

Mix well, and serve hot.

Without pictures:

Citrus Broccoli
Adapted from Everyday Food

1 1/2 pounds of trimmed broccoli florets
1/2 fresh lime
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

Place one inch of water in a large saucepan and place your steamer basket inside (these cost a couple of bucks at the discount stores, if you don’t have one). 

Bring the water to a full boil, add the broccoli and cover.

Steam until tender, but not mushy - about 7 minutes. 

Place broccoli in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Squeeze the lime juice over the broccoli and add some of the lime pulp, if desired.

Mix well, and serve hot.

[Saturday Sides is a weekly feature I run to help you combat the side dish blahs. Check here every Saturday to see what’s new and different you can add to your dinner table. Or, you can subscribe here so that you never miss a Saturday Sides Recipe.]

I hit the fruit market today for my weekly fruit and vegetable shopping trip. As I was filling my cart with goodies (Rhubarb! Tiny purple tinged asparagus! Ruby colored radishes!) a nearby shopper nodded toward my cart and inquired “Throwin’ a party?” I smiled and said “Nope, just shopping for my family.” He wandered over and visually inspected my cart a little closer. “Wow, you must have a lot of kids.”

It was at that point it dawned on me how much produce my family eats. No wonder I anxiously await the opening of the city farmer’s market, my neighbor’s produce stands (they’re like lemonaide stands except with berries and pumpkins and zucchinni and corn and ohhhh, I can’t wait!), and the goods that our friends give us from their own gardens (I’ve mentioned I can’t garden, right?).  I store my extra produce for the week in a big banana box in my basement - where it’s nice and cool - because it doesn’t all fit in my two refrigerators.

And, when I checked out, I paid attention to what I spent. The bill for my produce was equal to 1/2 of my total grocery bill for the week. If I bought strictly organics (which I cannot afford and the selection here is limited anyhow) it would be more than 1/2 of my grocery bill. And then came the realization - I really need to think about working on my green thumb a little (o.k., fine, a lot).

So, I’m asking you; my readers. What should I try to grow? What has the highest likelihood of survival with my limited gardening skills? What tips would you give me? I will continue to give you recipes, and perhaps you will give me - the cook that cannot garden - gardening tips. Now, if I could just get you guys over here to help me do some weeding.  Probably not, huh?  Well, bummer.  Anyhow, onto today’s recipe.

This cucumber salad goes together fast and easy, but doesn’t come up short on flavor. It’s great for nights when you want to cookout, or if you want to make something to take to a “dish-to-pass” type event, or when you’re just in the mood for something sweetly tangy and highly crunchy.

I haven’t had good luck with these holding up in the fridge for more than 24 hours. You’ll want to make them and eat them within a few hours and leftovers aren’t great past the second day. With that in mind, you might want to consider cutting the recipe in half, although my family of 4 1/2 plowed through most of these in a single sitting.  Remember, Lilly?  My middle child who eats nothing? I count her as the half.

Also, Hubby and I are trying to trim a little from our waistlines for swimsuit season, so I used a generic version of Splenda to sweeten these and they turned out great! I made a half batch with sugar to check the difference and they were highly tasty both ways.

I was able to put these on the table in a total of 8 minutes. And I’m really, really, really slow.

Sassy Cuke Salad

Adapted from The Taste of Home

7 cups of cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cups of sugar, or about 1 3/4 cups of Splenda (you can add more)
1 large white or purple onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 cup (apple) cider vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon celery seed

Start by peeling and slicing your cucumbers.

Add the green pepper and onion. I used a white onion, since I had one on hand, but a purple onion would be absoultely knock-your-socks-off good with this!

Add the sugar (or sweetner), salt (yes, I said 1 tablespoon, that is not a typo), and celery seed.  Celery seed is interesting.  It tastes just like a crisp fresh piece of celery, and it actually smells so good I could sprinkle it in my pillow case at night.  But, it’s not stringy like celery, which is a bonus.  Oh, and you can keep it in your spice rack - so when you’re out of celery?  Voila!  Celery seed.  Yeah, so don’t skip the celery seed, it’s the champion of this dish.

Pour the vinegar over everything and give it a good mix.

If you use real sugar, you’ll need to let this sit covered in the fridge, for about an hour, giving it another good stir every 15 minutes. This will help the sugar dissolve. If you use sweetner, you can skip this step.

Serve with a slotted spoon.

[Saturday Sides is a weekly feature I run to help you combat the side dish blahs.  Check here every Saturday to see what’s new and different you can add to your dinner table.  Or, you can subscribe here so that you never miss a Saturday Sides Recipe.]

Welcome, welcome, welcome!  It would seem that I have a lot of new subscribers this week, a good portion of them coming from the Frozen Assests Group on Yahoo Groups.  I’d like to take a moment to thank you guys for checking me out.  Oh, and also, to say:

ACK!  I don’t think I can deal with the pressure!  What if I post a terrible recipe?!?  What if you think I’m funny looking and have bad breath?  AAAAACK!

Hmm.  I should really take a shower and brush my teeth.  Oh wait, that’s right, you can’t see me.   Yay!  I love the Internet: I can talk to you with dirty hair and my “What the Duck?” t-shirt on (it’s covered in yellow ducks) without offending anyone.  So, maybe I should just get to the recipe and make sure it’s really good.

Actually, I’ve got a good stock pile of Saturday Sides just itching to jump off my keyboard and onto your computer screen.  So,  I was able to go through all my pictures and pick my favorite to share with you today.  I even considered running a poll to find out what you guys would prefer.  But, in the end, I figured it out on my own.  Being that I am an only child, I am highly independent and industrious.  It comes from years of figuring out how to play Twister all by myself.

I’m posting a brand new basic recipe for Balsamic Bell Peppers.  I loved these.  They made me sing “Wild Thing, I think I love you!”  You can definitely play with this recipe a bit.  Garlic, onion, and mushrooms would all be exceptional additions to this delectable Saturday Side.  Have fun with this one!

Balsamic Bell Peppers

4 Bell Peppers, (combination of red and yellow) seeds removed and thinly sliced
2 small zucchini, sliced
4 Tablespoons of olive oil, divided
1-2 Tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
Kosher Salt
Ground Black Pepper

Wash, pare, and slice vegetables.  Cut the zucchini into “coins” and the peppers into strips.  I used two red peppers and two yellow peppers, but you can use more of one or the other.  It’s up to you!  I mentioned this last week, but it’s worth mentioning it again; try to get the pieces close to the same size and shape as possible, since big pieces take longer to cook than small pieces.  You want everything to finish at the same time.

Place all vegetables into a large bowl and drizzle with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and 1-2 Tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar.  Balsamic vinegar gives the vegetables a tangy bite.  If you like tangy stuff, use more, if you want the taste to be more mellow, use less.  You’ll find Balsamic Vinegar right next to the regular white distilled vinegar - it costs a little more than the white stuff, but it’s not crazy expensive or anything.

Sprinkle salt and pepper over vegetables.  I know some of you might be tempted to skip the salt, and I realize that it can cause some dietary issues.  But, salt really helps enhance the flavor of peppers and zucchini, so don’t skip it completely. 

In other news, I was also making bread when I made these veggies so you might notice that I have flour on my wrist in this picture.  I guess that’s what happens when you’re multitasking.  I’d share the bread recipe, but I’m not happy with it yet.  It’s still in the “development” phase.  Read:  it still tastes like crap.

Mix the vegetables to coat and let marinate in the oil and vinegar for about 30 minutes.  Stir the vegetables every few minutes to help the oil and vinegar re-distribute.

Heat a large skillet over high heat.  Add remaining 2 Tablespoons of oil.
Add vegetables all at once.  Cook, tossing frequently, until tender and blackened in spots, about 10-15 minutes.

Enjoy!